


Who Needs a Cover Anyway?

by JediDryad



Series: February Fluff: 28 Ways Luke and Mara Get it Together at last. [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Academy Trilogy - Kevin J. Anderson
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Jealousy, Lando ships it, Misunderstandings, Necessary Conversations, Undercover Missions, february fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:41:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29240778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JediDryad/pseuds/JediDryad
Summary: Against his better judgment, Luke agrees to act as "Jedi Ambassador" on a mission with Mara and Lando. Will he be able to keep his feelings to himself or will observing their relationship be too much?
Relationships: Lando Calrissian/Mara Jade, Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker
Series: February Fluff: 28 Ways Luke and Mara Get it Together at last. [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129439
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40





	Who Needs a Cover Anyway?

“No Jedi stuff.” Mara hissed in his ear.

Luke nodded against her cheek in understanding. He knew that using the Force here would blow their cover - well blow their secondary cover. Apparently, he was their primary cover and he knew he hadn’t been told the whole truth about it.

As he and Mara huddled behind an overturned table in a darkened tapcaf, he wished for the 8th time in as many hours that he had not agreed to come along on this ridiculous trip. On top of knowing Lando wasn’t telling him the whole truth about needing a Jedi Ambassador for a business trip, Luke had found it even more taxing than he expected to watch Mara and Lando canoodle publicly and fight like a pair of rabid acklay in private.

He’d walked in on the end of such an argument earlier that day.

Mara had sounded weary as Lando swept out of the room barely acknowledging Luke. The look she gave him when she noticed his presence had a touch of fear about it before she buried it. That worried him.

“Trouble between the two of you?” 

He was trying to seem appropriately concerned. He would keep his raging jealousy to himself.

“Nope,” Mara answered, flashing him a sharp smile, “It’s just how we are.”

“Sounds exhausting.”

“Relationship advice from a jedi master?”

“You’d be surprised how many beings want my advice.”

“On romance? Wouldn’t that be like asking an Ithorian for their favourite nerf recipe?”

“I have wondered about that myself. After all, if I’m such an expert, and I’m single, you would think that should be taken as advice all on its own.”

Mara grimaced, “You make a good point, Jedi.”

“Maybe.” 

Luke wasn’t particularly happy with his point, but Mara didn’t seem all that happy with Lando so far as he could tell, and that didn’t do much for staunching his jealousy. 

She’s not interested. He reminded himself. She left the academy.

The ache he had felt watching her walk away from him with so much left unsaid filled him again. It would appear that when she’d stepped on to the Falcon, arm and arm with Lando, she’d seen something in the other man that Luke just couldn’t compete with. It was her choice, of course, but Luke struggled to keep a handle on how much it hurt - how much more it hurt than he could ever have imagined it would.

As the reverie passed. Luke had realized Mara was watching him, eyes searching his face for something. He wondered what she was looking for and smiled quizzically.

“Need something?”

“No,” she refocused her gaze and stepped back from him in a move that was uncharacteristically jumpy for her. “Just … thinking.”

And that’s when he’d asked what was on the agenda for the evening, and they’d wound up at the tapcaf supposedly investigating business contacts for Lando. Luke had circulated the space with them quietly, watching Lando work his charm and while Mara hung on his arm smiling and accepting questionable compliments while adding nothing of substance to the conversation. She had raised the pitch of her voice enough that Luke found it almost unrecognizable: jarring.

Eventually they’d been invited to sit with a group of local merchants and Lando had been drawn upstairs to meet with an apparently important connection. That Mara would sit in a booth in a skimpy, very low cut dress and claim to have no understanding of what Lando was looking for rang incredibly false to Luke. Mara hadn’t been able to manage a week at the academy without making suggestions - and not polite ones either - and they were barely friends. How in blazes did she completely ignore the business dealings of her boyfriend?

He was feeling more unsettled by the whole experience by the minute, and that was before the fists were thrown and the charges went off forcing him and Mara into their little barricaded corner.

“Can I check to see if Lando’s okay?” He’d whispered in Mara’s ear, trying not to notice that their scramble into their hiding place had landed her solidly in his lap and knocked her dress askew.

She nodded and Luke ascertained that Lando’s presence was strong and clear on the upper level. Indeed, the whole place seemed relatively calm, as though fights and explosions were a standard evening event. 

This place was wilder than Mos Eisley. The most beautiful woman in the galaxy had never fallen in his lap there. She hadn’t exactly leaped out of it either, he realized, suddenly and he felt his heart speed up.

He grabbed a nearby tablecloth and draped it around Mara’s shoulders. She seemed to be shaking slightly.

“Worried about my modesty, Skywalker?” she murmured into his shoulder, “How quaint.”

“I actually thought you might be cold,” he returned in correction, “but, since you mention it, what’s with the dress? It can’t be practical.”

“It suits my role.”

He turned to face her then, nose to nose in the small dim corner. He could feel her pressed against him and he was enjoying it way too much.

“What role?”

“Empty brained, arm candy.”

“Is that something you have to do in this relationship?” Luke couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice.

She was equally disgusted.

“No, Skywalker, it’s something I have to do on this mission for Karrde.”

The pieces clicked into place and the picture they formed made much more sense than what he’d previously gathered.

Yes, Mara would dress up and act the disinterested airhead with Lando for Karrde. If that’s what it took,she would tolerate any number of discomforts and frustrations. She wouldn’t, however, be in the best of moods about it.

“You and Lando aren’t actually together are you.” His attempt to make the observation into a question failed.

She took a deep breath and met his gaze.

“We are not.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” 

She shrugged and looked at the floor. Luke sensed a sudden vulnerability about her that he’d never imagined Mara would feel, certainly not when it came to him.

“It didn’t seem to matter to you. I figured you would ask if you cared.”

“I care.” 

The emphatic words came out on a gasp as his heart felt like it might escape from his chest. Maybe he had read her departure wrong. 

She let out a quiet laugh and slid a hand up between them to brush his cheek. He swallowed and stared at her, green eyes sparkling in the dim.

“Good. I hated you on Yavin, but I missed you once I left.” 

Luke leaned into her touch, feeling light headed. Mara was in his arms. She was reaching out to him. She’d missed him. He couldn’t even begin to explain how much he’d missed her.

She shifted closer, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her, moving in to meet her ready lips with his own -

Then the table was moving and the lights flickered back on, and Lando was grinning down at them.

“Oh good, you finally told him.” Lando’s voice was cheerful as he took in their cozy huddle.

He tugged at the table again and kicked at some rubble so they’d have room to get out.

“I’ve been pushing her to come clean since we picked you up. She’s fought me very hard on it.”

Mara blushed but Lando went on, “She kept insisting it wouldn’t matter to you.”

“It does,” Luke answered looking Mara directly in the eye. He barely glanced over to acknowledge the other man as he got to his feet and helped Mara to hers. 

He kept one arm wrapped around her waist and the other holding the tablecloth in place as she fixed her dress. She did not pull away when she’d finished and he pulled her a little closer.

“It matters a lot.”

“I told you it would.”

Lando’s tone was scolding.

Mara sighed.

“Fine, Calrissian. You are the master matchmaker. Here’s a testimonial for you,” and she spun around in Luke’s arms and kissed him long and deep. She tasted sweet under his tongue and he was certain he would never get enough of her. He wanted to take her back to the ship and never let her go.

Eventually she pulled back and met his gaze with tenderness and reassurance.

That was a performance, but not an act, he heard clearly in his mind and grinned.

He climbed over the table and assisted her to keep her shoes from getting caught in the dress.

They made their way for the door, and Mara let the tablecloth fall from her shoulders. Sheleaned into him as they stepped out into the night air. He kissed the top of her head.

“I would have offered you my cape.” Lando announced as they walked down the street. He’d had some success in his visit to the upper floor, and they had a name and planet to visit next.

“No you wouldn’t have, Calrissian. You’ve left it somewhere again.”

“That’s true,” he acknowledged, “and really, given the chance, I probably would have offered it to the young Twi’lek at the bar.”

“You should have.” Mara nodded, “She seemed interested. She flipped up her right lek to say hello.”

She turned to Luke.

“That’s more than he gets from a lot of his ‘prospects’.”

“Ah well, I suppose I shouldn’t proposition young women while my girlfriend is around.”

Mara offered Luke her mouth and he accepted without breaking their stride.

“Definitely not.” She agreed as they broke for breath, “It’s disrespectful.” 

Luke stroked her cheek and grinned.

Lando laughed, and looked very pleased with himself as they continued back to the ship.


End file.
